Today, the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Andreas Scheuer, laid the symbolic foundation stone in Timmendorf on the isle of Poel/Northwestern Mecklenburg, for the largest project to date within the scope of the federal programme for funding the roll-out of broadband.

Timmendorf on the isle of Poel belongs to the 14 project areas including a total of 81 municipalities in the district of Northwestern Mecklenburg where the construction work will now begin in a staggered approach. This means that now fibre optic cables will be laid on an area-wide basis all the way to the citizens’ homes. The whole project comprises almost 6,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables and a total level of investment of 180 million euros. The federal grant for all component projects amounts to 113 million euros.

Scheuer:

We want to have fibre optic - in every region and every municipality. This is the beginning of the largest project to date within the scope of our broadband funding programme. In the future, more than 36,000 households, 4,800 enterprises and 62 schools in Northwestern Mecklenburg will benefit from a modern fibre optic infrastructure. This will make living and working in rural areas considerably more attractive and foster economic development.

The district of Northwestern Mecklenburg in the Baltic Sea region is located at the border to the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. With about 150,000 inhabitants it is comparatively sparsely populated, but with approximately 2,100 square kilometres it is one of the largest German districts in terms of surface area. The district is part of the Hamburg metropolitan region.